Congratulations, Olympic Lions!

A veritable pride of Lions traveled to Tokyo for the Summer Olympic Games, with two getting to show pride of another sort by carrying their countries’ flags in the Opening Ceremony.

A record nine former varsity student-athletes, a former club rugby player, a skateboarder competing in the sport’s Olympic debut and one current student-athlete participated in the games, held from July 23 to August 8. The flagbearers were Nadia Eke ’15 of Ghana and Yasmeen Al Dabbagh ’19 of Saudi Arabia, both track and field athletes; the honor also made them the first female Olympic flagbearers in Columbia school history.

HERE’S HOW THEY DID

John Tanguay ’20 took home a silver medal as part of the Paralympic rowing team (in the PR3 mixed four with coxswain).

Maodo Lo ’16, who competed on Germany’s basketball team, started all of the team’s games at point guard and led in scoring (13.5 ppg) and assists (5.0 apg). The team ultimately placed eighth in the bracket, falling in the quarter finals to Slovenia.

Charlotte Buck ’18 rowed in the U.S. women’s eight, which was seeking its fourth straight Olympic gold; they just missed the podium, however, placing fourth at 6:02.78.

Also in rowing, Jakub Buczek ’16 represented Canada in the men’s four without coxswain; they earned an eighth-place finish overall and, notably, notched the boat’s fastest finish ever, at 5:58.29.

As part of the U.S. women’s foil team, Jackie Dubrovich ’16 and Nicole Ross ’13 helped the Americans reach the bronze medal match; there, the team fell to Italy, 45–23. Individually, both Dubrovich and Ross lost in the early rounds.

On the men’s side, Jake Hoyle ’16 fell in the opening round of the individual épée tournament to a competitor from Korea; he also competed as part of the U.S. men’s épée team, which lost in its opener to Japan.

Robb Paller ’16 was a left fielder on Israel’s first Olympic baseball team and started twice during the Olympic tournament, batting seventh; the team finished fifth overall.

In track and field, Eke competed in the triple jump, though she fouled in all three attempts during preliminary competition and did not advance. Al Dabbagh, meanwhile, ran a 13.34 in the preliminary round of the 100m dash, which was not enough to qualify for round one. She holds the Saudi Arabian women’s record in the 100m with a time of 13.24.

Isadora Cerullo ’13 competed as a member of the Brazilian rugby team, which placed 11th in the tournament.

Evita Griskenas ’24 represented the United States in the women’s rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around competition. Her score of 91.700 wasn’t enough to take her from the qualification round to the finals; she earned 12th place overall.

Finally, in the Olympic debut of women’s street skateboarding, Alexis Sablone BC’08 just missed a medal for the U.S., capturing fourth with a score of 13.57.

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McGill Drafted by Atlanta Braves

Liam McGill ’20, a four-year catcher for the Lions, was selected by the Atlanta Braves as the 277th pick in the ninth round of the MLB Amateur Draft in July. McGill, who hails from Wakefield, R.I., played a graduate season this year at Bryant University, where he earned All-America status and Northeast Player of the Year honors. “To be drafted in the ninth round is a huge honor and to be drafted by such a great organization like the Braves is an even bigger honor,” McGill says.

At the College, McGill was a two-time All-Ivy League selection and a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American in 2017. He posted a career .316 batting average with 14 homers and 83 RBI in three-plus seasons with the Lions.